Calcium

Q: I was astonished when my best friend told me that she uses Preparation H on her face. She says it helps smooth out the wrinkles around her eyes. Have you ever heard of anything like this? Do you know if it works?A: Preparation H has been used for lots of things besides hemorrhoids. We have heard of it being employed for bed sores, itchy surgical scars, dry, cracked fingers, and yes, even wrinkles.Despite enthusiastic testimonials, there is no scientific evidence for such novel uses.The company that makes Preparation H has had a hard enough time proving that it's effective against hemorrhoids.

Grab those free weights or head to your gym for resistance training. A regimen of exercise, along with calcium and vitamin D, may be the prescription for reducing your risk of osteoporosis, regardless of your age. Preliminary studies showing the benefits of resistance and weight-bearing exercise on bone density may be welcome news to the millions of Americans, most of whom are post-menopausal women, suffering from osteoporosis. Until recently, many women went on hormone replacement therapy as a treatment to slow the bone loss that can lead to osteoporosis.

In the warm days of summer, a flirty skirt worn with smooth bare legs is not only appropriate, it's also downright sexy. But as it gets cooler, sometimes that bared-leg look comes off as a little impractical. It's hard to be cute with legs covered in goose bumps. Instead of pantyhose or tights this fall, why not try a funky pair of long socks, which are not only warm, but one of the more fun sub-trends of the season. Knee-high socks worn with boots, flats, wedges and loafers are a whimsical way to show some fashion flair -- and keep your legs cozy and warm at the same time.

Is there a product containing both sunscreen and bug control (DEET) on the market? Are there any problems applying sunscreen and then 25 percent DEET spray? Several combination products with both insect repellent and sunscreen are available. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention doesn't recommend them because "sunscreen requires frequent applications while DEET should be used sparingly." Recent research shows another problem with such combination products (British Journal of Dermatology, June 2005)

You know it like the Pledge of Allegiance: "Milk helps build strong teeth and bones." But does it really? Or, as nutrition researchers from Harvard and Cornell universities are radically suggesting: Have we all been duped by the dairy industry's slick, celebrity-driven "Got milk?" advertising campaign? Milk, the sacred cow of the American diet, is under attack and not just by animal-rights activists. Though federal dietary guidelines and most mainstream nutrition experts recommend that people age 9 and older drink three glasses of milk a day, researchers are examining the role of dairy in everything from rising osteoporosis rates, Type 1 diabetes and heart disease to breast, prostate and ovarian cancer.

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, which says it has 3,000 physician members nationally and 50,000 lay "associate members," describes itself as "a non-profit organization in Washington promoting preventive medicine, and dealing with issues in human and animal research, and medical care."Its president is Dr. Neal Barnard, 39, a Washington psychiatrist who grew up in Fargo, N.D., in a cattle-raising family of "big-time meat eaters." He said he now is a vegetarian who avoids all animal products, vegetable oils and salt.

Web site gives rise to TV cooking showComputer-savvy cooks know that food.epicurious.com is one of the most useful food-related sites on the Web. Now the Conde Nast site has inspired "Epicurious," a new TV show on the Discovery channel. The hosts will be chef Ishbel MacIntosh and Jonathan Karsh (pictured above).Recipes, tips and techniques featured on the show will be available on the Web site. "Epicurious" premieres Oct. 3 from 9:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. A second show airs from 11:30 a.m. to noon the same day.All about seafoodIt's no fish story.

I heard a radio show caller say that an old-timer had told him to pick two small, new, reddish poison ivy leaves each spring, roll them inside a dough ball and swallow them to be immune from poison ivy for a whole season. This is an intriguing and terrifying suggestion. What is your opinion? We have heard this folk remedy from others, but we, too, are terrified by the idea. One reader related the following: "My father had me eat some poison ivy leaves when I was a child. I was always getting into it and breaking out in a bad rash.

People who drank about two 8-ounce glasses of milk a day had a 15 percent reduction in risk of getting colorectal cancer, according to a study that seems to redeem the benefits of a much maligned beverage. The new analysis from researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston comes as science continues to search for foods that may play a role in health and disease. Milk, in recent years, has been implicated as a trigger of other forms of cancer.

I bought an oak hydrangea. Is it acid loving? I have sandy soil. Unlike their blue mophead cousins, oakleaf hydrangeas prefer a neutral pH, anywhere from 6.1-8.5. They are very shade tolerant, however they flower best in full sun. In their native habitat, they grow in sandy soil. Because sandy soil does not retain water well, you may need to water it during dry periods. As the fruit on my Early Girl tomato plant has grown, it's rotting on the bottom of the fruit (opposite the stem). I've heard that this might be something called "blossom end rot."